Intel's Core i9-13900KS Rips Ryzen 9 7950X In Early Benchmark

Intel 13th Gen Core processor
(Image credit: Intel)

While Intel's regular 13th Generation Core 'Raptor Lake' processors are nearly here, the company's limited edition Core i9-13900KS is a few months away. But some Chinese PC makers appear to already have samples of the said CPU to prepare for the launch and even test their performance. The results were published over at Chinese Bilibili and discovered by HXL. As it turns out the upcoming Core i9-13900KS is quite a mighty chip as it manages to leave behind not only all Raptor Lake processors, but even AMD's shiny new Ryzen 9 7950X. 

Intel's Core i9-13900K processor packs eight high-performance Raptor Cove cores as well as 16 energy-efficient Gracemont cores, just like other top-of-the-range Raptor Lake CPUs. While other Core i9-13900K processors can boost their performance cores all the way to 5.80 GHz (one or two cores), the Core i9-13900KS promises a 6.0 GHz boost clock speed. But in addition to this, the limited edition Core i9-13900KS version will also support a 350W turbo mode that will increase boost clocks even further depending on motherboard quality and capabilities of its cooling system. 

This 350W mode is an ultimate way to increase single-thread performance of Intel's upcoming limited edition Core i9-13900KS processor and perhaps the company's secret weapon against AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X processors based on the Zen 4 microarchitecture. Meanwhile, high clocks of the Core i9-13900KS naturally affect its performance in multi-threaded workloads. 

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Row 0 - Cell 0 Launch PriceCores | ThreadsP-Core Base/All Core Boost/Max lBoostE-Core Base/BoostTDP / PBP / MTPMemoryL2+L3 Cache
Core i9-13900KS?8P + 16E | 24 Cores/32 Threads? / ? / 6.0 GHz??DDR4-3200 / DDR5-560068MB
Core i9-13900K/KF$589/$5648P + 16E | 24 Cores/32 Threads3.0 / ? / 5.8 GHz2.2 / 4.3 GHz125W / 253WDDR4-3200 / DDR5-560068MB
Ryzen 9 7950X$69916 Cores/32 Threads4.5 / 5.7 GHz-170W / 230WDDR5-520080MB
Core i9-12900KS$7398P + 8E | 16 Cores / 24 Threads3.4 / 5.2 / 5.5 GHz2.5 / 4.0 GHz150W / 241WDDR4-3200 / DDR5-480044MB
Core i9-12900K/KF$589/$5648P + 8E | 16 Cores / 24 Threads3.2 / 5.1 / 5.2 GHz2.4 / 3.9 GHz125W / 241WDDR4-3200 / DDR5-480044MB

At least, early performance numbers of the Core i9-13900KS obtained in CPU-Z benchmark (version 2.0.2.0) shows that it leaves behind not only chips like the Core i9-12900KS and Core i9-13900K, but also AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X both in single-thread and multi-thread performance.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Row 0 - Cell 0 Single-ThreadMulti-Thread
Core i9-13900KS982.518453.4
Core i9-13900K89316877
Core i9-12900K81911424
Ryzen 9 7950X78715663

We do not know exact hardware configuration tested by the owner of the Core i9-13900KS sample. Secondly, we are dealing with a pre-production CPU with unknown specifications and cooling. Cooling is obviously vital for the 350W mode and someone with LN2 can get record results. 

It is worth to keep in mind that the CPU-Z benchmark is a basic synthetic benchmark that may reflect performance in some real-world applications and may not performance in other programs.  

Taking into account all of the aforementioned factors, these CPU-Z test results should be taken with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, if the results are accurate, they are nothing but impressive for the Core i9-13900KS.

 

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • -Fran-
    Given how much time left there is for its launch, it could be different OC teams playing around with pre-production chips. Remember that der8auer has gotten eng samples at times and puts them to the test, almost literally, to get some information for this own OC attempts, etc.

    Still nice to see such massive jumps, so the performance wars continue.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • svan71
    If it beats the 7950 in multithreaded work loads I'll eat my hat.
    Reply
  • Integr8d
    One, tiny, little core can eat 350w? That’s insane…
    Reply
  • Neilbob
    I can't help but shake my head at the grandiose clock speed claims being made these days. For perspective, 6.0Ghz is an approximate 3.5% increase over 5.8Ghz. That's so small as to be almost unnoticeable, but for what would undoubtedly be a comparatively huge power consumption increase.

    Like overclocking, it all seems very pointless now.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    Integr8d said:
    One, tiny, little core can eat 350w? That’s insane…
    That limit is for the whole CPU, all cores, the speed increase you get in multi is still because each core runs faster (so single thread) .
    Reply
  • SunMaster
    svan71 said:
    If it beats the 7950 in multithreaded work loads I'll eat my hat.

    I'll take care of the leftovers.
    Reply
  • Lafong
    Neilbob said:
    For perspective, 6.0Ghz is an approximate 3.5% increase over 5.8Ghz. That's so small as to be almost unnoticeable, but for what would undoubtedly be a comparatively huge power consumption increase.

    Yet, that 3.5% is still touted widely and bragged about.

    What does that tell you about the touts?

    What does that tell you about prospective buyers?

    What does that tell you about the touts' opinion of the prospective buyers?

    Would you buy "Milquetoast Harmless 3600 DDR4 RAM, 2 x 8 kit"?
    Reply
  • King_V
    I can see it now...

    "OMG AMD is TERRIBLE for increasing power draw on their chips!!"

    "OMG Intel is AMAZING with their performance! 18-25% more performance is totally worth it for an extra 52% of power draw!! That's ONLY 120W more!!"
    Reply
  • Eximo
    Or you just buy the locked version, set a reasonable power limit, and call it day. At this point it is almost pure marketing.

    Ryzen 6800H vs the 12800H, both at 45W, they come out darn close to each other. And the desktop 12700 only gets you about 25% more performance for "65W" For another 10% you have to go to the 190W 12700k.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    King_V said:
    "OMG Intel is AMAZING with their performance! 18-25% more performance is totally worth it for an extra 52% of power draw!! That's ONLY 120W more!!"
    That would still be better than the 7950x. GN reported it being 25% faster than a 5950x while using 100% more power. Ironically, about 120W more for 25% more performance. Just like you said.
    Reply